LETTER FROM SOUTH AFRICA: John O'Sullivangives a flavour of what sports fans can expect when they travel to Johannesburg

THE SIGN was affixed to one of the outer walls of the stadium. It carried a simple message. Beware of robbery, muggings and car jacking.

Welcome to Coca Cola Park – formerly Ellis Park – in Johannesburg where the giant wrought-iron gates, razor wire and omnipresent fluorescent-jacketed security outside and their smartly tailored colleagues inside reinforce the words of the warning.

To get to the stadium patrons must pass through the inner-city residential neighbourhood of Hillbrow – easily discernible from anywhere in the city because of the Telkom Johannesburg tower which rises 270 metres high – a notorious and densely-populated enclave, home to high unemployment, poverty and crime. It is known locally as “little Lagos”, a reference to the large Nigerian immigrant community and ruled by gangs.

This part of the city underwent a complete transformation over the past 50 years. Noted in the 1960s as a trendy district full of bars and restaurants it became a designated whites-only residential area under the apartheid regime before taking on a more cosmopolitan hue once again.

Rapid population growth, a lack of investment in local infrastructure and the exodus of the middle-class residents in the late 1980s reduced Hillbrow to an urban slum within a decade. People still flocked to the area from townships, rural areas and the rest of Africa but many live in abject poverty.

A bizarre local ritual took place there for many years where on New Year’s Eve the residents of the high-rise towers threw furniture, televisions and even fridges down on to the streets below, often killing people. The night usually ended with the police and army having to intervene with guns.

Speaking to a black South African journalist as the media bus eased its way through Hillbrow he reminded me of a conversation we’d had a couple of days earlier. “Now you know why I told you about this place. I wouldn’t dare set foot in there. You wouldn’t last two minutes.”

Never did the phrase “mean streets” seem so apposite, watching scores of gangs on corners, looking at the broken pavements, windows and the dilapidated buildings and burnt-out cars. Only 22,212 patrons turned up to watch the Golden Lions take on their British and Irish counterparts on Wednesday night and the excuse trotted out was that the patrons didn’t like venturing to Ellis Park at night; the Hillbrow factor.

It is wrong to say there is no public transport to the ground at present but as the journalist confirmed no white person would use it. The imperative in getting to the ground is to drive and given the surrounding neighbourhood and the aforementioned sign, that would be akin to playing Russian roulette.

The official figure for the opening match in Rustenburg was a little over 12,000 but in real terms it looked about half that number; this in a ground with a 45,000 capacity specifically built for next year’s soccer World Cup. It will be interesting to note how many attend the Lions match against the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, a traditional heartland of Afrikaner rugby.

Next year’s soccer showpiece dominates most of the signage in the bigger cities and unlike the Lions tour the event is going to attract significant numbers of supporters to the country.

There will be no shortfall in stadiums but the infrastructure is a completely different issue. Getting people to and from matches is going to be difficult not least because of the traffic gridlock, a spin-off of the ambitious road building that is taking place in Johannesburg. It is not the only issue for a city looking to address its violent image but in the context of next season’s global soccer extravaganza the clock is ticking ever faster.